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LITTLETON -- One good quarter does not a full game make.

The No. 11 Lunenburg boys' basketball team had one solid quarter against sixth-seeded -- and defending Central Mass. Division 3 champ -- Littleton, but the Blue Knights could not contain the Tigers for the other three as Littleton advanced to the quarterfinals with a well-earned 58-41 win at Littleton High School Monday night.

For the Blue Knights, Monday's game is one they'd like to put far in the rear-view mirror, as the first-half display was one out of their worst nightmares.

Lunenburg's abysmal first half saw the visitors shoot 4-of-20 from the field including 1 of their first 6, as well as committing 16 turnovers -- in essence, a turnover a minute -- against a hearty zone defense before heading into the locker room looking to salvage something.

"We were trying to work on our defense the last week or so," said Littleton head coach Mike Lombard. "They had taken it to us pretty good at their place, so we knew they would give us trouble offensively. I knew if we played our game and executed our stuff, we could turn them over."

"Their defense was great," said Lunenburg head coach Jon Economo. "I think we couldn't handle the ball, and we just didn't have it.

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It took us three quarters to click as a unit, and I think once we did, we just ran out of gas.

"They played great defense, and they caught us off-guard a couple of times. We panicked."

For the eight minutes of the third, it seemed as if Lunenburg came out re-energized, shooting 7-for-14, while limiting the hosts to 1-of-14 from the field in the third stanza.

"It felt worse," Lombard said. "I thought we were letting our offense dictate our defense. We've had stretches this season where we've struggled to score, and it's been the bane of our existence."

The Blue Knights had scored the first 10 points of the quarter, as Calvin Whipple (9 points) scored off an offensive rebound before getting hacked and adding the harm 16 seconds later to pull Lunenburg to within 12, 28-16.

Littleton's Mike Wilson (10 points, 13 rebounds) ended up scoring the Tigers' lone hoop of the quarter to end the scoreless skid with 4:38 left in the third, before Poirier, Williams and Whipple rounded things out to tie the score at 30-30 headed into the fourth and final quarter with a full head of steam.

"We went into the half and I didn't say much of anything," Economo said. "We talked about completely forgetting about the first half and getting back into this one in the third.

"That was the best defensive effort (in the third) that I've ever seen them play. I wish we could have put it together for 32 minutes instead of 8."

But the steam evaporated quickly, as Littleton's Alex McLaughlin (game-high 16 points, 8 rebounds, 6 steals, block) hit a 3-pointer to start a 15-2 run from which the Blue Knights had no hope of recovering.

Littleton scored the first nine points of the game, as McLaughlin was simply on fire.

After scoring the first hoop of the game 42 seconds in, he came up with a theft on the next Lunenburg trip near the foul line and brought it all the way back for a layup.

After another Lunenburg turnover later, Travis Bassett (12 points) canned a 3 to make it 7-0, before Matt Jackson, on Lunenburg's third turnover, scored on a 13-footer.

Littleton (18-of-54, 33 percent) had a 15-5 lead after the third, which it expanded as Bassett, Wilson, and McLaughlin each scored hoops to open the second.

"I was real happy with the way we rebounded the basketball," Lombard said, noting Littleton's 44-35 edge on the window. "We're a balanced team, one guy isn't going to carry us. Everyone stepped up, especially on the glass."

Lunenburg (15-of-51, 29 percent) had a 6:56 scoreless skid at one point.

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